Plastic fasteners of the type used, for example, to attach merchandise tags to articles of commerce or to secure articles of commerce to packaging are well-known and widely used in the retail industry. One common such fastener is a unitary plastic member comprising a flexible filament, a cross-bar (also commonly referred to as a “T-bar”) at a first end of the flexible filament, and a paddle or other enlargement at a second end of the flexible filament. When used, for example, to secure a merchandise tag to an article of commerce, the cross-bar may be inserted through the merchandise tag and then through the article of commerce, with the paddle or other enlargement not being inserted through the merchandise tag or article of commerce and being appropriately sized and shaped to keep the tag from being pulled off the second end of the flexible filament. In an analogous fashion, when used, for example, to secure an article of commerce to packaging material, the cross-bar may be inserted through the packaging material, with the paddle or other enlargement not being inserted through the packaging material.
Plastic fasteners of the type described above are typically mass-produced in either one of two different forms known as fastener stock. A first type of fastener stock is a clip-type assembly, said assembly comprising a plurality of fasteners, each such fastener comprising a flexible filament having a cross-bar at one end thereof and a paddle or other enlargement at the opposite end thereof. The fasteners are arranged in a stacked orientation, with the respective cross-bars parallel to one another and the respective paddles parallel to one another, each of the cross-bars being joined to a common, orthogonally-disposed runner bar by a severable connector. Adjacent paddles also may be interconnected by severable connectors extending between the front face of one paddle and the rear face of its adjacent paddle.
The aforementioned fastener assembly is typically made through the process of injection molding. Several commercial embodiments of the above-described fastener assembly have been sold by the present assignee, Avery Dennison Corporation, as AVERY DENNISON® SWIFTACH® fastener clips.
A second type of fastener stock is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,475, which issued on Sep. 11, 1990, in the names of Francis T. McCarthy et al., and in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0205940 A1, which was published on Oct. 21, 2004, in the names of William J. Cooper et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. This type of fastener stock comprises a plurality of fasteners arranged in a side-by-side, co-planar assembly, the paddles and T-bars of successive fasteners being joined together by severable connectors so as to form a supply of continuously connected fastener stock. Several commercial embodiments of the above-described fastener assembly have been sold by the present assignee, Avery Dennison Corporation, as AVERY DENNISON® SYSTEM 1000® fastener assemblies.
The aforementioned second type of fastener stock is commonly manufactured using a process commonly referred to in the art as continuous molding. An example of an apparatus designed to manufacture continuously connected fastener stock using a continuous molding process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,784, inventor David B. Russell, issued Jul. 31, 1984, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. In the aforementioned patent, continuously connected fastener stock is produced using a rotating mold wheel that includes cavities in its periphery that correspond in shape to the molded fastener stock. To form the fastener stock, molten plastic is extruded into the cavities of the rotating mold wheel with a layer of controlled film overlying the peripheral impression. The molten plastic is then allowed to solidify. A knife in substantially elliptical contact with the peripheral impression is then used to skive excess plastic from the rotating mold wheel (i.e., the layer of controlled film), leaving plastic only in the molding cavities. After the skiving process, the continuously connected fastener stock is removed, in-line, from the cavities in the molding wheel. Transfer rolls advance the fastener stock typically to a stretching station where selected portions of the fastener stock are selectively distended (e.g., using divergent sprocket wheels). After the stretching process, the fastener stock is collected onto a windup roll for packaging.
As noted above, in the case of continuously connected fastener stock, the paddles of adjacent fasteners are typically joined together in a side-by-side arrangement by severable connectors. Such severable connectors are typically filamentous members typically having a square or rectangular transverse cross-section. As individual fasteners are dispensed from the continuously connected fastener stock, the severable connector that extends between the trailing end of the paddle of the dispensed fastener and the leading end of the successive paddle elongates and breaks, leaving a small remnant of the connector on one or both of the dispensed paddle and the successive paddle. As can be appreciated, such a remnant is undesirable as it may snag and damage the article of commerce to which the fastener is attached. The risk of significant damage caused by the remnant may be particularly great where the fastener is attached to fine articles of clothing.